Arsenal’s Appearance and Goalscoring Records: A Chronology

RECORD BREAKERS!

We’re sure that most of you are aware that David O’Leary has played most first team games for Arsenal and that Thierry Henry is the club’s record goalscorer. But what about before them? Which players previously held those records?

APPEARANCES

For the appearances record we have started with the first player to play 100 times for the club – Gavin Crawford. Gavin hit that milestone on 19 December 1896, and went on to play a further 38 games. The table below shows how the record has been broken and the total appearances that player made. The exception is John Dick who actually played 284 games but was overtaken by Jimmy Ashcroft who was a virtual ever-present during his time at Woolwich Arsenal whilst Dick played only sporadically after breaking the record.

We’re not a big fan of including Charity Shield figures in first team statistics but it appears to have become the norm over recent years, so we have bowed to public pressure. Figures shown after the + sign are those made as a substitute.

Player

Date record broken

Total

League

FA Cup

League Cup

Europe

CS

Gavin Crawford

23/04/1898

138

122

16

Fred Davis

24/12/1898

150

137

13

John Anderson

06/12/1902

153

144

9

John Dick

07/02/1903

254

239

15

Jimmy Ashcroft

23/03/1907

303

273

30

Roddy McEachrane

16/01/1911

346

313

33

Percy Sands

05/04/1915

350

327

23

Alf Baker

07/03/1931

351

310

41

Bob John

09/01/1932

470

421

46

3

George Armstrong

04/09/1973

621

490+10

58+2

35

24+2

David O’Leary

04/11/1989

722

523+35

66+4

68+2

21

3

Alf Baker, George Armstrong and David O’Leary

GOALSCORERS

For the goalscorers we started with the first player to reach 25 goals. This was James Henderson who scored his quarter century on 22 September 1894, helped along with a healthy number of goals in the FA Cup qualifying competition against the likes of City Ramblers, Ashford and 2nd Scots Guards. Henry Boyd is Arsenal’s most prolific goalscorer of those who have scored more than 30 goals.

Player

Date record broken

Total

League

FA Cup

League Cup

Europe

CS

James Henderson

26/01/1895

31

19

12

Henry Boyd

05/12/1896

32

32

Adam Haywood

18/03/1899

36

31

5

Bill Gooing

26/10/1903

48

45

3

Tim Coleman

07/10/1905

84

79

5

Jimmy Brain

07/05/1927

139

125

14

Cliff Bastin

28/12/1935

178

150

26

2

Ian Wright

13/09/1997

185

128

12

29

15

1

Thierry Henry

02/11/2005

228

175

8

2

42

1

Thierry Henry looks likely to hold on to his record for quite a while. Theo Walcott is the current player with the most goals having amassed just 69 goals in nine years.

Jimmy Brain and Cliff Bastin

Finally, we have how the record for most goals scored in a season has progressed. Prior to 1893-94 Arsenal only played in the FA Cup, hence the low figures.

Player

Season

Total

League

FA Cup

CS

Humphrey Barbour

1889-90

4

4

Jimmy Meggs

4

Hope Robertson

4

William Scott

4

Charlie Booth

1892-93

5

5

James Henderson

5

James Henderson

1893-94

19

12

7

John “Tim” Coleman

1902-03

19

17

2

Tommy Shanks

1903-04

25

24

1

Harry King

1914-15

29

26

3

Jimmy Brain

1925-26

37

34

3

Jack Lambert

1930-31

39

38

1

Ted Drake

1934-35

44

42

1

1

Since Ted Drake’s record was set, the most goals scored by an Arsenal player in one season is 39 by Thierry Henry in 2003-04.

For those purists who only count league goals, the record was broken and equalled twice between James Henderson’s 12 and Tim Coleman’s 17. Peter Mortimer scored 14 in 1894-95, which was equalled by Paddy O’Brien in 1896-97. Fergus Hunt upped it to 15 in 1898-99, and Ralph Gaudie matched him in 1899-1900. After that, it was as per the list.

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